Strong Is How You Deal With Pain
by Kei Nyoko-the masked gem
Summary: Hinata never went to the academy. Her mother didn't die giving birth to Hanabi, but instead in a car crash with Hinata. Hinata wishes her mother had survived instead. What will she do when placed on team 7 instead of Sakura? Flame and die.
1. Chapter 1

The twelve-year-olds sat in the room, talking, bragging about how the passed the test in the most spectacular way cough-Naruto-cough, or just listening, whatever they wanted to do. They were going to get their team assignments today, and there was a sort of tense excitement in the air.

Although they were all expecting the door to open, they all jumped when they heard it opening. Iruka walked in, holding a scroll.

"You will be sorted into three man cells."

Some were angry, some were impatient, some just plain didn't care. A few felt melodramatically strong cough-Sasuke-cough. All were hoping for certain people to be in their cell, or not be in their cell.

_Iruka began with some people that are completely irrelevant to our plot, so I'm going to skip over that part and ignore them. I will start with our favorite team, team seven!_

"Team seven will consist of: Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke was suddenly interested in what the tangent-loving teacher (Sasuke's words, not mine) was saying.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto couldn't believe it. Just when he though he was rid of that dumb teme. "And Hyuuga Hinata. Team eight will consist of: Inuzuka Kiba."

Kiba woke up suddenly, having heard his name mentioned. Who was on his team?

"Aburame Shino."

Shino wasn't paying attention anyway.

"And Haruno Sakura."

Sakura thought it was just her luck that she was stuck with insect kid and dog boy when bugs and dogs scared her.

"Team nine will consist of: Nara Shikamaru."

Shikamaru woke up, decided he didn't care, and fell back asleep. All in two seconds!

"Akimichi Chouji."

Chouji continued munching on his potato chips, happy that he was with his friend.

"And Yamnaka Ino."

Ino sighed. Why did she get stuck with a glutton and a sloth?!

_The rest of the people aren't important, so I'm just going to skip over them. I'm not very good at prologues. _

**At the Hyuuga Compound**

"Hinata-sama, you will be on a team with an Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Your father instructed me to tell you not to hold them back." The servant bowed and left the room. She didn't wait for a response, for one would not come. She knew Hinata had no idea who these two boys were, for sending Hinata to a school would have been useless. Hinata was a fast learner, kind, not really cut out for a shinobi, though.

Hinata sat in her room. Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke. Two names that meant nothing too her. She would spend many years with these people, unless someone died, or they were disbanded or something. Most likely she would know them better than her own sister. And yet they would hate her, oh yes, they would hate her. There was absolutely not doubt about that. She glanced around her room. It was plain, sparse, nothing special. She had not personalized it with any sort of poster. The only interesting thing about it was her book collection. Because of that event, she had retreated into the realms of fiction, the only place she was safe and wanted. Yes, she had lots of friends there.

Hinata is not strong, she isn't smart at maths and such things. She isn't good at memorization. She can't perform some of the simplest jutsus. She is naïve and childish. She has the lowest self-esteem possible. All she knows of herself are things that she hates, and because that is all she knows, she hates herself.

But she is not all bad, as you, reader, already know.

She is kind, and cannot bear to see anyone suffer. She is beautiful. She can write quite well. She understands human nature, and is sympathetic even with a cold blooded murderer. She is observant, and happy go lucky. She can see the smallest spark of light even in a place where light has not existed in an eternity. Most importantly, she is strong.

After all, she hasn't given into the voices yet.

The ones that have been with her since her world became all silence and tiny letters on the pages of a book.

Instead, she smiles.

And, if there had been anyone who cared, she would tell them not to worry.

The voices helped her get through the silence.

They stopped her from going truly insane.

Besides (here she would smile) you're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

Sasuke and Naruto have been waiting the classroom for a little over a hour. Their sensei and their other teammate haven't arrived yet.

"Who the hell is Hyuuga Hinata anyway?!" Naruto screamed, tired of the silence.

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke glared at Naruto. Sasuke has very sensitive ears.

"What did you say, teme?!" Naruto slammed his hand down on the table. Just then he had a brilliant idea.

Naruto grabbed a chalk eraser, and balanced it above the door. He giggled.

"Baka, a jounin won't fall for that." Just then the door opened and the eraser fell on a girl with black hair and big, pale lavender eyes. Her hair dusty with chalk dust, she picked up the eraser and gazed around the room. She immediately guessed that the blonde was the one who put the eraser up above the door, because he was rolling around on the floor laughing. The other boy was looking at her in disgust. She reached her hand up to her hair, ran it through the hair, and then looked at it. It looked like a ghosts hand. She started laughing at her hand, and how funny it looked. From another person's point of view, this whole situation would seem hilarious. Suddenly, she just couldn't control her laughter, and she doubled over.

Sasuke stared at this girl, unable to avoid a dumb eraser. How lame can a person get? She ran her hand through her hair, and then suddenly started laughing. She didn't make any noise as she laughed, but by the expression on her face and the way her breath was coming in short gasps, he could tell she was laughing. What a strange girl. Most girls had a high-pitched giggle, or a loud, raucous laugh. This girl was completely silent. She slowly stopped laughing, and stood up. Both Naruto and Sasuke were staring at her. What kind of a girl laughed at getting hit by an eraser?  
"Are you Hyuuga Hinata?" Naruto asked, intrigued by this strange girl.

Hinata nodded, and took a seat on the near a window.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage!" Hinata looked at him, her head cocked to one side, as if evaluating him. After a while, she smiled at Naruto, and nodded her head yes. He looked stunned. "Wait, what do you meant by a head nod?"

Hinata did not respond, but just looked Naruto straight in the eyes.

"Well, what do you mean by nodding your head?" The girl still did not respond. Naruto grew fed up with her, and decided to replace the eraser above the doorway. After doing so, he retook his seat and tried to look innocent.

Hinata inwardly sighed. Two minutes in and she was already making problems. She wished that he could have understood, but apparently her teammates hadn't been informed or didn't care.

After a length of time that could only be described as a few hundred forevers, the door opened and the eraser fell for a second time, this time upon a gray-haired man who appeared to be in his twenties. Naruto fell down laughing, Sasuke sighed, wondering why he always got stuck with the losers. Hinata just looked at the man, with a mask covering his face, and his head band covering his left eye. He looked over all of them and walked to the center of the room.

"My first impression of you all is, I hate you." Naruto anime fell and Sasuke anime sweatdropped. Hinata just lowered her eyes, and wondered how she had managed to mess everything up so soon.

"We'll go around one by one and introduce ourselves. State your name, your likes, your dislikes, your hobbies, and your dream."

"I know, sensei, how about you start." Naruto grinned evilly.

"Alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like a lot of things, I don't dislike that many things, and my dream is none of your business. But I have lots of hobbies."

"All we learned was his name." Grumbled Naruto.  
"You, you next."

"All right! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I love ramen and Sakura! I hate the three minutes that you have to wait until the cup ramen is ready. I also hate Sasuke-teme over here. My hobbies are training, and eating ramen. My dream is be Hokage so that everyone will treat me properly!"

"Good, now you."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't like much of anything, and I hate most everthing. I have no hobbies other than training. I don't have a dream, but my ambition ins to revive my clan and kill a certain person."

"………….Alrighty-then. Well, I'll star – ."

"WAIT! You forgot about Hinata-chan." Naruto hated to see anyone left out, but he mostly just wanted to find out about this girl.  
"Are you kidding? Do you really not know?" Kakashi was smirking at them, mirth sparkling in his eye.

"Know what?" Sasuke did not like being uninformed. In fact, it irked him to no end.

"Hinata-san is mute."

Cliffhanger!

I just had the idea for this and had to write it down. There will be minor plot changes up to the point where Sasuke leaves Konoha. After that point, I'm making it all up. Anyway, suggest Hinata pairings in your reviews please! I've got some ideas so far. For example:

SasuHina

NaruHina

GaaHina

And maybe some others. Anyway, I know this plot thing has been done to death, but I think the whole Hinata being mute thing will really help set it apart. If I'm way off, and this story stinks, don't be afraid to tell me. Just don't insult Hinata, and don't insult my writing. If it's just and overused plot, that's fine, but anything else I count as a flame and that means people die. Anyways, I hope you like it! Remember to Review too, okay? Thanks!

P.S. I don't own Naruto


	2. Chapter 2

"S-she's mute? As in can't speak?" Naruto couldn't believe it. They had made a mute girl a shinobi? Why? He looked at Hinata. She was looking at him and Sasuke, a sad look on her face. No wonder she hadn't responded to him when he asked her questions. What would life be like if you couldn't talk? He wouldn't have been able to life. When someone insulted him he'd just have to take it. Someone else would have to order ramen for him. His world would be so small.

"Was she born that way?" Sasuke's voice was colder than usual. No wonder her laugh was silent. But, come on, why did he have to get the dobe and a mute girl on his team? At least she wouldn't bother him too much. But she was so weak.

"No, she lost her speech when she was five. In a car accident. Her mother was also in that accident, but she didn't make it. Anyway, meet me here tomorrow at sunrise for training. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll only throw it up." With that Kakashi walked away. He hated talking about things like his, for he could see how much it hurt Hinata.

Hinata stood there, gazing at Sasuke and Naruto. Now they knew. They knew how weak she was. They hated her. This was why she trained at home. This was why she avoided contact with anyone who really exists. Because as soon as they found out, she wasn't just a girl anymore. She was someone to be hated, someone to be pitied, she was anything but a human. Her heart heavy, she turned away from the two boys, and plopped back down on the ground. She hugged her knees to her chest, and sighed. She hated being mute, she hated everything about herself.

Naruto stared at this girl, who looked indescribably sad. He couldn't think of anything to say, but just kept staring at her. What did you say to someone when you find out their mute?

Sasuke couldn't understand this girl. She had been so happy earlier, seemed so carefree. A picture of her shaking with laughter ran through his head. He felt guilty, because his first thought after finding out that she couldn't speak was how she would hold him back. Wait a minute! Since when did he feel guilty about anything!? He was THE Uchiha Sasuke, he had no regrets, he never felt guilty. What was wrong with him? He thought of how sad her eyes had looked when she had looked at him and Naruto. She wore her feelings on her sleeve. He had never met a person like that who wasn't obnoxious, and that surprised him.

Hinata stood back up, her sad moment over. She bowed to Naruto and Sasuke as if to apologize to them. With that, she walked away, leaving the two alone to their thoughts. Sasuke was the first to leave, and Naruto left soon after. They both were no less confused about Hyuuga Hinata than they had been before.

Hinata got up an hour before sunrise, and was ready in fifteen minutes. She had been very careful to get lots of sleep the night before. She wanted to prove to her team that she wouldn't be a burden, at least. She knew Hatake-sensei told them not to eat breakfast, but maybe she could make lunches. She just kept thinking about the last time she had laughed like that. She hadn't for these past seven years, maybe more. She hadn't spent more than fifteen minutes in a person's company in seven years either. She hadn't liked how everyone had looked at her, how they had pitied her. She couldn't hope to be their friend, she couldn't even hope that they wouldn't hate her. But she didn't want them pitying her. She would force them above pitying her. She finished the four lunches and put them in her backpack carefully. She still had half an hour, but she didn't care. She put on her shoes and left, not even caring to leave a note. No one would notice her being gone anyway. She almost never had any contact with anyone, so this wouldn't make much of a difference.

Sighing as she closed the door, she forced herself to focus on the laughter from yesterday.

Naruto stumbled out of bed and got dressed slowly. He hated getting up, and especially this early. He glanced at the clock and then did a double take. He was almost late! He sprinted out the door, wanting to be Sasuke-teme there. Why, you might ask? Well ……… no one really knows. It's just this thing he has.

Hinata was the first one to the meeting place, so she sat down and brought out her newest book. She didn't even like the story, it was about a girl who wanted to be the best at everything, but kept getting beaten by this one guy. And everyone thought she was perfect, but then the weird perfect guy finds out that she is really a slob who wants people to notice her way too much. It was really stupid, and she felt a deep disgust developing for these characters. But, still, they were both better than she was, so she really didn't have any right to look down on them. Sighing, she closed the book and noticed that Sasuke staring at her.

What was with this girl!? She ignored him, didn't even notice him coming up, and paid attention to a book instead. He glanced at the title of the book. A dumb book that wasn't even about fighting. He glared at her, when she suddenly shut the book and looked up at him. She wasn't like most girls, where they looked at his shoulder, or the ground. She looked him straight in the eyes, and kept her gaze here. She simply sat there, looking at him quizzically, while he glared at her.

"Hey Sasuke-teme, hey Hinata-chan." Hinata turned to look at the blonde, one again ignoring Sasuke. For some reason, that annoyed him. Almost all the girls at the academy were his fangirls, it was odd to see this girl who wasn't. He hated his fangirls, but this girl annoyed him even more than them. What right did she, a mute, have to ignore him? He brushed that thought off, and decided to ignore her.

"Hey Hinata-chan, what's this book?" Naruto grabbed the book before Hinata could stop him. He read a bit and then put the book down. "You like this stuff, Hinata-chan? I hate it." Hinata shook her head vigorously. "So you don't like it. Then why are you reading it?" Hinata's gaze turned inward, and her face saddened. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto could even begin to fathom what she was thinking about right now. She brought her legs up under her chin, and she began to rock back and forth. Naruto was concerned. Had he hurt her in anyway? He did the only thing he could think of to do. He hugged her.

Hinata felt strong arms wrap around her, and blushed immediately. She stopped rocking, and turned to face Naruto. He smiled at her.

"It's okay, Hinata-chan. If you want, I won't ask you anything like that again, okay? I just wanted to get to know you better. I don't really actually like reading, myself. I prefer training. And one day, I'll be better than this teme here! Your face is kinda red. Do you have a fever?" Naruto released the poor girl and started to reach for her forehead. Hinata stopped him, smiling to say she was okay. Naruto smiled back, and then started talking to her about Ichiraku and Iruka and Sakura-chan, really just whatever entered his mind.

Sasuke watched this exchange with contempt. Only weak people relied on others. He turned away, and decided neither of them deserved his attention.

Four Hours Later

"WTF!? YOU'RE FOUR HOURS LATE!" Naruto was throwing a tantrum. He couldn't believe it. He had got up so early, he had run all the way there to be on time, and now this guy just strolled in four hours late. He couldn't believe it!

"……………………………………I was lost on the road of life." Kakashi didn't even bother to come up with a good excuse. Knowing that most likely he wouldn't really be seeing these kids after today.

_Anyway, I'm skipping all the explaining stuff because I'm laz- I mean because you, my reader, would rather skip to the exciting stuff, right? Great!_

Hinata and Sasuke were hiding in the bushes, watching the entire exchange between Naruto and Kakashi. Hinata knew Naruto was hungry, and was glad that for once she had done something right in bringing the lunches. But what was the point of the test? Two hours, two bells, two lunches. One of them would have to be left out. One would have to fail. And Hinata knew who. The only one who wouldn't really mind not being a ninja. The only one whose whole world didn't center around being a ninja. Her. But that didn't matter. She preferred her old lifestyle anyway, and besides, if she continued being a ninja, she would most likely die. Sasuke and Naruto could survive. They were strong. They would be great. They had dreams. She knew she would never amount to anything. So the answer was obvious.

While Hinata was figuring out what to do, Naruto and Kakashi fought, and Naruto fell for the simple trap. Sasuke made his mistake and then ran away.

When Hinata came back to earth, she saw Naruto hanging from the tree. Damn! How much time had she wasted!? She scanned the area with her Byakugan, and decided that it was safe, and not a genjutsu. She leapt out of her hiding spot.

"Hinata-chan! Thank Kami! I thought that I was alone. Could you get me down from here?" Hinata looked for other traps. She found none, and cut Naruto down.

"Thanks Hinata-chan! I'm gonna go get those bells now!" Hinata grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving. "What's wrong?" She trying to communicate her plan to him, but he wasn't quite getting it. "You want you, me, and a tree to go attack a dog. You wand Yumi and the grass to go have a picnic." Hinata got an idea. Motioning for Naruto to stay where he was, she grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from her backpack, and wrote down her plan.

Naruto looked at the sheet of paper that Hinata had given him. It had a diagram of there stick figures attacking a scarecrow with a book. One of them was obviously him, judging by the whisker marks and the hair. Another was Sasuke, because of the Uchiha symbol and the hair. The scarecrow was Kakashi because it had a book and two bells attached to it. The other person must be Hinata. At the bottom of the sheet was a happy Sasuke with a bell, a happy Naruto with a bell, a sad Kakashi with no bells, and a happy Hinata reading a book in a room.

"So you want us to work together, have me and Sasuke get the bells and you end up a civilian? No way! You deserve that bell way more than Sasuke. Besides, I can defeat Kakashi all on my own, just you watch." And with that Naruto was off to find Kakashi. Hinata tried to chase after him, but he was already too far off. She decided to get Sasuke first then. She set off to find him.

After a few minutes of scanning with her Byakugan, she found him. He was a while off, and fighting Kakashi. She deactivated her Byakugan so that she could focus on running faster. By the time she reached the place where he had been fighting Kakashi, he was already buried in the ground

"What do you want?" Sasuke was beyond pissed. He was buried in the ground, and he couldn't seem to fight his way out.

Hinata giggled as she began to dig him out. "Stop that. I can get out on my own." Sasuke scowled at her, hating the fact that she was laughing at him and that he needed help out. But Hinata kept giggling and digging until his arms were free. After that he could get himself out the rest of the way.

He started to leave when he felt someone grab his arm to stop him.

"What the – " He was cut off by a piece of paper being shoved in his face. It was the same paper that Naruto had been shown earlier. "I don't work with others." And with that he crumpled up the paper and threw it at her. "Especially not weaklings." He turned and ran.

Hinata didn't know what to do. Naruto and Sasuke rejected her plan, and there was no way she could get a bell on her own, let alone two. Plus, if she got them, then Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't pass. She didn't even have a chance to give either of them a lunch. She was an idiot, thinking they would listen to her. Hell, she wouldn't even listen to herself if she was them.

Kakashi watched from the trees. What was that piece of paper that Hinata had shown to both Naruto and Sasuke? What was it that she had proposed they do? Why had both been so reluctant? Well, the only way to find out was to ask her. As he was about to jump down from the trees, the timer rang. They were out of time.

Naruto was tied to his stump, and Hinata and Sasuke were sitting on either side of him. All three were watching Kakashi.

"There is no need for any of you to go back to the academy." Kakashi was interrupted by Naruto.

"WE PASSED!" Naruto was happy, jubilant even.

"Because all of you are hopeless." Sasuke charged at Kakashi, only to be easily blocked. "Hinata, kill Naruto now or Sasuke dies!" Naruto started to freak out, afraid that Hinata would actually kill him. Hinata just sat there calmly, knowing that Kakashi wouldn't kill anyone. "You will be put in situations much like that one as a shinobi, and you must make choices." Kakashi released Sasuke, who walked back to his previous spot. "The purpose of this exam was to test your teamwork. You could have only gotten the bells by working together. Naruto, you refused to work with Sasuke, even though he was your teammate. Sasuke, you were too headstrong and decided that these two were far too weak to be worth your time." Both Naruto and Sasuke were shaking with anger. How dare this man speak to them so!

"Hinata, could I please see the paper that you showed both Naruto and Sasuke?" Hinata smoothed it out as much as she could, and handed it to Kakashi. He glanced at it, and was surprised that Hinata had figured it out before anyone else. "Well, well, well, who would have thought that anyone would have guessed the purpose of the test? And Naruto and Sasuke turned your plane down, huh? Because of Hinata here, you all get a second chance. Hinata and Sasuke get lunch, but Naruto can't have anything. Whoever feeds him will get disqualified."

"I can survive without food for a while! No problem!" Hinata sighed at Naruto's cockiness. She activated her Byakugan as soon as Kakashi was out of a normal person's sight. As soon as he was at least one hundred feet away, she reached into her backpack and brought out one of her extra lunches. She opened it and began to try to feed Naruto.

"Hinata, you can't do that! You'll get disqualified. It's only because of you that we have this second chance anyway." But Hinata could not be deterred. But before the second bit of rice could make its way into his mouth, Kakashi appeared. He looked very angry.

"YOU…………………………"

Suspense! Does my second chapter stink? Is Hinata too clever? I don't really know about this chapter. I wanted to get it over with so that I could get to the important parts, but at the same time I wanted to do it justice. Did I do well? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!

See ya next time!


	3. Chapter 3  perforated eardrum minichap

Yea! I finally updated! I'm really glad than I got so much praise. I'm sorry about the typos, I'll try to edit a bit more. Anyway, I'll start the new chapter now

(-0-)

"Pass!" Kakashi was smiling through his mask now, looking almost proud. He was surprised at the first team he ever passed. The Kyuubi Idiot, the Uchiha Avenger, and a mute heiress. An odd trio indeed.

"I-I'm a ninja! I'm a ninja! I'm a ninja!" Naruto was just chanting that over and over, like a mantra. Sasuke shrugged it off, although he was just a little relieved. He was just afraid that the other's would hold him down, stop him from passing, and now that fear was assuaged, that was all. Hinata's reaction was almost intangible, but it was there. Her eyes showed the briefest of happiness, and her mouth curved up in what could be considered a smile, before something else occurred to her. She was a ninja, and she couldn't even communicate with her team. Her happiness faded, and it was replaced with a look of severe guilt. She didn't deserve this, she couldn't do this. When it came to the sink-or-swim, she'd sink, and drag her whole team down with her.

Unknowingly, she had brought her knees up to her chest and was rocking back and forth. It was her defense mechanism, the only way to protect herself from her father, from everything.

Sasuke stared at this display. He had seen the fleeting happiness, he had seen the smile that could break your heart. And he had seen it all disappear. He had seen her begin to rock back and forth, seen her begin to berate herself mentally. How many times had he done that at first? How many times had he curled himself up into the smallest ball possible to stop the pain, to block out the truth? He used to do every day.

Sasuke quickly shook these thought away. He didn't think like that, he never was so weak. He was strong.

Kakashi didn't know what to do. He had just passed the team, but how could a girl so delicate ever be a good ninja? Was there something mentally wrong with her as well?

Hinata suddenly realized what she was doing. Her face flushed a previously undiscovered shade of crimson as she got up, hoping that her shaking legs wouldn't fail her. Her gaze never left the ground the entire time.

Naruto, meanwhile, was just trying to escape from his bonds. Being the oblivious dobe we all know and love, he hadn't even noticed the scene. Finally fed up, he turned to glare at his three companions.

"WILL SOMEONE UNTIE ME!?" He unknowingly screamed in Hinata's ear.

Hinata flinched and quickly turned to untie Naruto. However, this gave both Kakashi and Sasuke a clear view of her now bleeding ear.

"…Hyuuga." Sasuke said, but Hinata didn't turn his direction. He quickly grew angry, for he thought that she was ignoring him again. He started to storm off before Kakashi stopped him.

"She can't hear you." He said quite calmly. "Naruto must have injured her eardrum. She was _very _close to him." Kakashi shrugged, still maintaining the premise that he wasn't going to get close to this girl. He would never have taken her on if all the other good female ninjas hadn't been taken.

Sasuke blinked. She couldn't hear him? Did Naruto really scream that loud?

By now Naruto was untied, and got a nice display of her bleeding ear. Being Naruto, he did the dumbest thing possible. He screamed in her ear.

"OH MY GOD HINATA! YOUR EAR IS BLEEDING! WHAT DO I DO?!" This time, Hinata fell to her knees in pain, clutching her ear. When is was safe, she drew her hand away, and stared at her hand. Her practically white skin was now half covered with a sticky, dark red liquid. Having rarely been injured, she was fascinated by the strange color. Wasn't blood bright red? Bringing her pointer finger to her mouth, she tasted a bit of the blood. It tasted rather like really salty salt water.

She glanced up when Kakashi gently took her by the hand. He reached into her backpack and pulled out her notebook. Opening to a fresh page, he wrote something down quickly and handed the note to her.

_I'm going to take you to the hospital, okay?_

Hinata looked up and nodded. She and Kakashi started to walk away before an always loud voice shouted out to them.

"Where are you going? What's going on?" Naruto was looking anxiously from Kakashi to Hinata.

"I'm taking Hinata-chan to the hospital." Kakashi said without turning around. "Meet me in front of Hokage Tower tomorrow at 6:00 am. Don't wait up."

And with that they left, Kakashi and Hinata going one way, Naruto another, and Sasuke yet another.

_**The next day**_

Sasuke and Naruto were waiting at the Tower for two hours before Kakashi showed up.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO DAMN LONG!?"

"You sure like to scream Naruto." Kakashi said, smiling at his idiot student.

"Where's the Hyuuga?" Sasuke tried not to sound curious.

"Hinata-chan has a perforated ear drum, so she'll be skipping the first few missions. She's slightly deaf, and is spending her time at the hospital." Kakashi was surprisingly cheerful. He had been surprised at how when he at written down the news for Hinata, she had first apologized. She was certainly … different. Would that be good or bad for her two teammates?

"Let's go then."

_**Author's note**_

I really screwed up Kakashi didn't I? He's such a difficult character for me to write about. Oh well, he's still pretty cool. Anyway, this was sort of a random mini-chapter. I really didn't mean to get so off track with the whole eardrum thing, but it was fun to write about. Anyway, the next chapter will be both longer and sticking to the plot a bit more.

Till next time!


End file.
